Against the Tide of Years
|next_book = |sort = 02 }} This is the second book of a trilogy about events that take place when Nantucket Island is transported back in time to 1250 BCE. The Republic of Nantucket enters into an alliance with Akkadia (Babylon), the Island is attacked by Tartessos, first steps are undertaken to colonize eastern South America and Peter Girenas departs on his expedition to survey North America. WARNING: This web page is a spoiler, and describes the storyline. Walker subdues Achaea May, 2 AE William Walker and his followers have reached Achaea (Ancient Greece) following Walker's defeat in the Alban War. Within weeks Walker demonstrates cannon to Agamemnon, the High King, and introduces the Roman alphabet. Alice Hong sets up sanitation and modern looms. Bill Cuddy sets up lathes and forges. March, 3 AE Walker pressures John Martins into working on steel production and talks to a local architect about building a dam, a watermill, a blast furnace and outbuildings for a workforce. Odikweos, King of Ithaka of the Western Isles, is walking through Mycenae when he hears a swordfight. He finds Walker and his armsmen fighting assasins. Odikweos assists, and earns a night at Walker's strange new house. June-July, 4 AE Agamemnon inspects ships that Walker is building, and a new invention, a windmill. The ships are novel, and Walker offers a ride. As they depart, Agamemnon notices men with 'sticks' in lines in the distance. Walker explains it as an idea he is trying with 'small cannon' and Agamemnon loses interest. Odikweos and Walker land ahead of the main Greek invasion of Sicily. Walker has 400 musketeers and six cannon, and smashes 4,000 Sicilians. Walker is using Agamemnon's existing war plan to gain control of his own source of materials. Ch.5 November, 6 AE Walker entertains Bill Cuddy and explains some of the things he is doing, now that he can access Sicily's minerals. He is then entertained by the psychotic Alice Hong and her captive Sicilians. June, 7 AE Odikweos returns from Sicily and admires the changes made in Achaea by Walker. They discuss the next attempt at conquest- Troy and the Hittite empire. Ch.6 May, 8 AE Walker gives a pep talk to Alice, who seems to be growing a conscience. Walker points out that she destroys in ones and twos, but he had two thousand crucified in Macedonia alone. She fears fate, which gives him an idea. Ch.11 September, 9 AE Walker stages a palace revolution against Agamemnon. We are given a glimpse of his bureaucracy at work. Ch.16 February, 10 AE Walker discloses some of his plans to the faithful Ohotolarix, wanting a trusted man to go north. His daughter Althea gets some object lessons in ruling. Ch.19 April, 10 AE Walker enters into talks with the Ringapi people from the Danube area: he needs their minerals and men, they want his modern weapons and goods. Ch.18 Agamemnon and his son attempt to flee, but are both killed. Walker claims the throne of Achaea. Walker retires John Martins, as he considers John has taught everything he knows, but will not let him out of Achaea. John moves into the hills. May, 10 AE Walker says goodbye to Sam McAndrews who is off to Egypt to find his Black Empire. McAndrews is unaware that what Walker loaded into his ship is outdated or worn out machinery. Walker is expecting Egypt to become a threat, but not a significant one. Walker and Cuddy discuss a Werder rifle captured from Nantucket. Bill praises the rifle but annoys Walker when he says he can duplicate it but the Achaeans cannot make drawn brass cartridges. Walker cheers up when he is told that Cuddy can make ammunition which is not quite as good, but will work, and also that he has a partial answer to the Nantucket Gatling. Nantucket June, 4 AE Martha and Jared Cofflin cycle to where Ron Leaton is building a Bessemer conversion plant, producing steel from molten iron. The steel is poured into moulds to make eight-inch Dahlgren cannon, for use in the new Coast Guard frigate ships. March, 8 AE Marian Alston is on her way to a Council meeting and deals with an escaped moa, a giant New Zealand bird farmed by the Nantucketters since year 2. The Council discuss immigration; they want to assimilate the locals, not the other way around. Marian thinks she has an answer, in that intelligence reports suggest Walker cannot be stopped without a war. Lieutenant Vicki Cofflin and Ron Leaton trial an engine for Emancipator, the first of a fleet of airships. A tethered balloon hovers over the airfield, and an ultralight takes off. She jokes about being on the cutting edge of technology but is taken seriously. Ch.1 April, 8 AE Ian Arnstein, Councillor for Foreign Affairs, reads through reports from Alba. He collects Doreen, who is learning Akkadian, the language of local Babylon. They take their son down to the docks, and stop to watch a Tartessan ship. August, 8 AE Swindapa still has nightmares of her treatment by the Iraiina in 1 AE. Vicki Cofflin admires RNAS Emancipator before the test flight. Jared Cofflin complains about paperwork before a working lunch cooked by Marian. Marian explains the Island's military strategy, then Jared entertains the group with the plans of a certain Pete Girenas on the mainland. Ch.3 September, 8 AE Major Kenneth and Captain Kathy Holland are interrupted at Camp Grant, Long Island, by Commodore Alston and Lt.Commander Swindapa. Marian inspects troops, asks questions, then orders Kenneth to hand Camp Grant over to a successor and prepare a newly formed batallion for the Middle East. Ch.4 October, 8 AE Swindapa and Marian dance and sing a 'soul' down for a new clipper ship under construction. Dr Henry Coleman introduces Justin Clemens to Jared Cofflin. Clemens has just identified cowpox in some Alban immigrants. They worry that it is a precursor to smallpox, and discuss vaccination using cowpox. Clemens has gone through a messy divorce, and is looking for a way off Nantucket... Ian and Doreen admire the half-constructed new clipper. Ian is amazed at the speed of build compared to the first. Marian tells him she uses mass production and prefabricated parts, as did the Venetians to build Galleys. Ch.5 November, 8 AE The Marine Expeditionary Force sets sail after a ceremony led by Prelate Gomez. Ch.6 December, 8 AE Marian Alston is Captain aboard clipper frigate Joshua Chamberlain, two days out from Barbados, in flotilla with troop ship Eagle, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and another clipper, Abraham Lincoln. The flotilla exercises with the new Dahlgrens. They exchange news with a Nantucket trader attracted by the gunfire. Ch.6 January, 9 AE The Expeditionary Force lands at Mauritius Base to collect water and timber, and is given a sloppy reception by the incompetent Base Commander. Marian demotes him and gives her men some exercise putting the Base to rights, rewarding them with a short holiday. Ch.7 March, 9 AE Jared Cofflin is happy with the Babylon treaty. He checks Town Meeting proposals, noting proposals for day-care inspectors, coal imports, and a new base at what-will-be Buenos Aires. He is amused that a supporter of the Girenas expedition is one of the worst thorns in his flesh and an enemy of Pete Girenas. Ch.9 March, 10 AE On Nantucket, Marian and Swindapa have prize money for two captured Tartessan ships. She advises keeping them. She and Cofflin walk to Seahaven Engineering, where Ron Leaton has developed a breech loading rifle based on a Werder design, with brass cartridges. Marian advises giving the rifles to the Island Militia, sending their muskets to Kar-Duniash, until Ur Base has cartridge-making machines of its own. Ch.19 May-August, 10 AE The Tartessans launch an invasion of Nantucket. The Island's Militia is called out with their new Werders, Gatling guns and six-inch mortars. Marian orders her fleet readied, including a novel steam ramship. She orders her ultralight aircraft to attack, and one manages to blow up the main ammunition carrier of the Tartessan fleet. The Tartessans have muskets and two surprise weapons: rocket launchers, and eight-inch steel Dahlgrens on their ships. In the battle aftermath Marian berates the Islanders for not spending money on defence, but adds that now they have a reason to go for Tartessos. She adds that many Tartessan soldiers were mercenaries, who will fight for Nantucket in the Middle East. The Island fleet lands at Pentagon Base, Alba. Marian has machinery, stores, and a ship to collect, and wants to recruit Sun People warriors for the attack on Tartessos Kar-Duniash February, 9 AE King Shagarakti-Shuriash arrives at Ur. He is taken to the dockyard to see gifts from the Nantukhtar, the Eagle People. The king is impressed by the identically-dressed Marines (half of them women), their weapons, and a pair of binoculars. He discusses implications with his son Kashtiliash and courtiers. They discuss the 'prophecies' the Nantukhtar have of the destruction of Babylon by the Assyrians, which worries them already. Ch.8 April, 9 AE Homeward bound, Marian's flotilla is caught off South Africa by a storm. Dr Clemens shows Kathryn Hollard the results of a dysentery epidemic and begs for staff. She takes him to Ian Arnstein as the solution to his problem - King Shuriash has gifted the Islanders two hundred slaves. Ian can free them, and put them to useful work at the hospital. Ch.10 Prince Kashtiliash is on a lion hunt with his new allies, and is greatly impressed by them, their weapons, and by Kathryn. Ch.11 Marian's ship, badly damaged, stays afloat long enough to reach what-will-be Durban Ch.11,12 May, 9 AE Prince Kashtiliash visits the Nantukhtar base at Ur and is astonished and appalled by what he finds - fired brick walls, cannon, steamboats, road trains, sewers for everyone, and his father's slaves freed and being taught to read and write. Ch.11 Ken Hollard is passed a message that the Assyrians and Elamites are attacking Kar-Duniash. He alerts Katheryn. Vicky Cofflin is reassembling RNAS Emancipator and cannot promise air cover for ten days minimum. Ch.12 Justin Clements is summoned to King Shuriash's court to see if Nantukhtar arts can save his concubine who is undergoing a difficult birth. Azzu-ena, a female physician, helps him, and begs him to train her. Ch.12 June, 9 AE The Republic First Marine Corps accompanies King Shuriash's army.They find the Assyrians crossing a river, but a reed swamp lies between the armies. Ken decides to run a causeway across the swamp, but Assyrian archers line up on the far side. Ken demonstrates the power of massed rifles by firing blind through the reeds and destroying the archers.Ch.13 July, 9 AE Ian accompanies King Shuriash to the Assyrian capital Asshur in RNAS Emancipator. He advises the King that Assyria would be better taxed than destroyed and advises a Parliament. Ken is at the northern border of Kar-Duniash with Mitanni, chasing Assyrians out of a fort. Ken enters and finds the inhabitants massacred except for a beautiful girl hanging in front of an Assyrian corpse. Ken cuts her down and learns that the corpse is the King of the Assyrians, killed by the girl, Raupasha, daughter of the former King of Mitanni. Ch.15 September, 9 AE Kathryn and Kashtiliash watch the seige of the Assyrian capital when Assyrian special forces attack. They fight back-to-back, and she invites him to her tent. Ch.16 The Islanders discuss the complications of the war as King Shuriash arrives in time for the surrender of the Asshur. Doreen debriefs Raupasha and learns that Walker has encouraged revolt in the Hittite empire, what-would-be Turkey. Justin and Azzu-ena are stopping another epidemic of dysentery in the Kar-Duniash army, at the risk of offending the local priests. Ch.17 February - March, 10 AE Ken Hollard is brought up to date with the latest intelligence on Walker's moves on the Hittite Empire, and discusses a role for Raupasha. He takes her a hunting dog puppy. Raupasha is discussing the contradictions of English and the Eagle people with Azzu-ena when Ken arrives and offers horse-riding lessons. King Shuriash watches two steam dredges clear silt from an irrigation canal, and makes plans for more clearance. He discusses the new alliance with his son, as the Nantukhtar are charging a pittance for this service- where are they seeking advantage? In the meantime, the Nantucketters discuss the future of the Babylonians. Ken discusses Raupasha's role as desired by Nantucket. It wants her on the throne of Mitanni; it needs the area pacified and allies against Walker. Kathryn takes the first recruits for the Kar-Duniash infantry, having to beat a few before they take orders from a woman. Ken accepts the first Werder rifles from Victor Ortiz. Raupasha tries one out and immediately suggests a strip of bullet loops on the shoulder to cut down reloading time. Ch.20 May-August, 10 AE Kathryn marches 600 Kar-Duniash New Troops into Babylon city. Justin Clemens recognises smallpox in a child. Princess Raupasha foils an assassination attempt on King Shuriash. Justin explains that he can only use attenuated smallpox virus to prevent an epidemic; that one in a hundred may die if he does. Nine out of ten may die if he doesn't. Ch.21 RNAS Emancipator sets off for Hattusas, capital of the Hittites. Meanwhile rioting breaks out in Babylon and King Shuriash has a massive stroke. Prince Kashtiliash steps in to control the riots with his New Troops and Nantucket allies. Ch.24 Ken confers with Nantucket by radio: Kathryn and Kashtiliash wish to marry. Jared and his advisors see no diplomatic problem with this. In Hattusas, the Arnsteins persuade High King Tudhaliyas that they came to help. Walker's troops must be delayed, at Troy. Ian decides he must travel there to support King Alaksandrus. Walker besieges the city, and meets Alaksandrus and Ian to demand their surrender. They refuse. Ken and Kathryn march the Allied troops into Hittite territory where they are met by Raupasha and her troops, armed and resupplied with 'modern' chariots. Ch.25 August-September, 10 AE Ken speaks to the Mittanni troops, showing them new weapons and an ultralight scout plane which quickly proves its worth, finding the Hittite rebel's army, Walker's supporting regiment, and their new mitrailleuse weapon in very short order. Using his scouts and Raupasha's chariots, Ken draws the Hittites into an ambush. Ken then discovers that the enemy have rocket artillery, which they use while withdrawing. The First Kar-Duniash have advanced far enough to be able to attack the new weapons. Ken reports to Nantucket that Walker is better armed than they thought. Raupasha celebrates the victory with a rousing speech to her troops in which she announces she will marry Ken... Ch.26 Tartessos April, 8 AE Isketerol, King of Tartessos, entertains his children with stories of Eagle and the Amurrukan people, and how he learned enough to take over as King after stealing a ship full of tools and books. He inspects a newly made musket and has to insist on the parts being interchangeable.Ch.2 March, 9 AE Melanterol son of Suaberon lands in Nantucket. Pretending to be a native of the Summer Isle (Ireland), he befriends a Fiernan girl who works at the steel plant; Tartessan steel is full of bubbles, and Walker is no help... Ch.11 Girenas Expedition, North American Continent April, 8 AE Peter Girenas hunting with Sue Chau and his dog Perks, when they are attacked by four unidentified tribesmen, whom they are forced to kill. Pete's mind is made up as they return to Providence Base: The Islanders must find out what is in the continent. August, 8 AE Pete reports to his boss, Ranger Captain Bickford, and to his astonishment, Martha and Jared Cofflin. They discuss Pete's continental survey; Jared refuses republic funds, but suggests that Pete should put his proposal before the Town Council and raise private funds, with Jared's open support.Ch.3 March, 9 AE Pete plans with his team: Sue Chau, Eddie Vergeraxsson of the Sun People, Henry Morris, Dekkomosu of the local Lekkansu tribe, Jaditwara, a Fiernan woman, and Perks. Ch.9 July, 9 AE The expedition is in what-would-be Missouri when they stumble on a fight between two tribes, the source of tortured bodies they have come across. Pete takes sides and the group intervenes. In the fight, Henry, their doctor, is thrown and breaks a leg. He promises it will take a good three months to heal. Pete looks at his group and the thirty-odd tribe they rescued and decides that they have found the place to prepare for winter. Ch.17 May, 10 AE The expedition leaves their cabins, and the Cloud Shadow tribe. They also leave Henry, now married, and Dekkomosu. They take Spring Indigo, Pete's second wife after Sue. Ch.23 Durban Base March, 9 AE Marian coaxes the battered Chamberlain into the bay of what-would-be Durban and has the ship hauled on shore to repair, despite evidence that the Tartessans have used the harbour. Ch.12 May-June, 9 AE Marian and Swindapa are hunting when they come across Bushman hunters avoiding an elephant. They shoot the elephant and invite the hunters to the feast. They learn the hunters are also evading a Tartessan group.Ch.13 A pair of Tartessan ships appear outside the harbour, but Marian has guns there. Ch.14. The Tartessans try a land night attack just before Chamberlain is relaunched, but Marian is warned by the Bushmen, and sets an ambush. She uses the Tartessan survivors to lure in the waiting ships. Ch.18